Effects of civil society involvement on popular legitimacy of global environmental governance

Bernauer, Thomas; Gampfer, Robert

doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2013.01.001

Cited by 125 publications

(109 citation statements)

References 38 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

105

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Addressing the information deficit is more challenging; simply giving more information to an individual is suggested to have a limited effect on improving his or her acceptance [42], however, efforts to improve media literacy may prove more successful [2]. Further suggestions for how to improve public acceptability similarly promote more participatory and less passive approaches; evidence suggests that involving the public in the deliberation and design of policy [8,[43][44][45], and trials [1,18] have strong potential to improve public acceptability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designing Policy Mixes for Resource Efficiency: The Role of Public Acceptability

Bicket¹,

Vanner²

2016

Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:Where the public acceptability of a policy can influence its chance of success, it is important to anticipate and mitigate potential concerns. This paper applies search frequency analysis and a form of claims-making analysis to identify public acceptability concerns among fourteen policies proposed by the EU-funded DYNAMIX project to achieve EU resource efficiency. Key points of contention in the corresponding public discourses focus primarily on trust, fairness, effectiveness and cost. We use our findings to provide specific recommendations for the design and implementation of the proposed policy mix which are intended to improve the public acceptability of contentious aspects, and highlight some broader insights for policymakers.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designing Policy Mixes for Resource Efficiency: The Role of Public Acceptability

Bicket¹,

Vanner²

2016

Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…These two types of ENGO contributions, which are well documented in the literature (e.g. Betsill and Corell, 2008;Bernauer and Gampfer, 2013), are likely to enhance public support for more ambitious environmental policies and to encourage voteseeking policymakers to adopt such policies.…”

Section: Engo Influence Contingent On Political System Characteristicmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Hence, 3 both types of ENGO functions are presumed to act in the same direction, namely towards making the resulting policies 'more environmental-friendly', thus more acceptable to citizens and, in turn, making vote-seeking policymakers more willing to adopt such policies (RisseKappen 1994(RisseKappen , 1995Keck and Sikkink, 1998;Biermann and Gupta, 2011;Dryzek, 2012; Bernauer and Betzold, 2013;Bernauer and Gampfer, 2013). The overall conclusion from this research, which attributes at least parts of the trend toward more stringent environmental policies to ENGO influence, seems quite convincing both theoretically and empirically.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The marginal impact of ENGOs in different types of democratic systems

Böhmelt

Bernauer

Koubi

2014

Eur. Pol. Sci. Rev.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Conventional wisdom suggests that environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) play a major role in pushing states towards more ambitious environmental policies. However, demonstrating that this presumption is in fact true is rather difficult, because the same system structures of democracies that may create more opportunities for ENGO activities are also, on their own, conducive to better environmental policies. This leaves open the possibility that the additional (marginal) impact of ENGOs on policy-making is smaller than presumed. In trying to disentangle these effects, this paper examines the influence of ENGOs contingent on key structural characteristics of democratic systems. We develop the argument that presidential systems with a plurality electoral rule per se tend to provide more environmental public goods, which induces a smaller marginal impact of ENGOs. Conversely, parliamentary systems with a proportional representation electoral rule are likely to provide fewer environmental public goods, which allows for a larger marginal impact of ENGOs. We find robust empirical support for these hypotheses in analyses that focus on the ratification behavior of 75 democracies vis-à-vis 250 international environmental agreements in 1973-2002. Keywords: democracy; environmental non-governmental organizations; international environmental politics; parliamentary systems; presidential systems; plurality voting; proportional representation Authors' noteThe research for this paper was carried out as part of the Swiss NCCR research program 'Challenges to Democracy in the 21 st Century' (http://www.nccr-democracy.uzh.ch). We thank four anonymous reviewers and the journal's editors, Donatella Della Porta and B. Guy Peters, for helpful comments. Supplemental information, the data set, and the replication files referred to in the text can be obtained from the authors on request.Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2364002 2 IntroductionEnvironmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) have become highly visible in decision-making from local to global levels since the 1970s. An increasing body of research examines how ENGOs participate in policy-making, either indirectly (e.g. via lobbying or campaigns) or directly (e.g. by helping governments to design and implement environmental regulations) (e.g. Betsill and Corell, 2001;Corell and Betsill, 2001; see also Chayes and Chayes, 1993: 204;Raustiala, 1997;Finnemore and Sikkink, 1998;Roberts et al., 2004;von Stein, 2008;Böhmelt and Betzold, 2013).The general expectation in this literature and also in policy circles is that ENGOs play a major role in pushing governments towards more ambitious environmental policies at all political levels 1 . For example, ENGOs can enhance procedural legitimacy by promoting greater transparency and better representation of otherwise marginalized societal interests in policyformulation and implementation (see Gemmill and Bamidele-Izu, 2002; Steffek and Ferreti, 2009). Moreover, transboundary environmental proble...

show abstract

“…At times, co-option of the process by special interest groups in pursuit of narrow agendas may occur Bernauer and Gampfer 2013), and there are concerns that deliberative governance creates opportunities for captured outcomes . This is often due to the concentrated power held within a group of elites who have the skills and resources to dominate the process (Kasperson 2006).…”

Section: Governance and Deliberationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… commandeer the decision-making space for non-democratic ends by only pursuing the interests they represent, which may be proportionately smaller than the power they wield (Hull, 2009;Bernauer and Gampfer, 2013);  co-opt deliberative processes for the purposes of policy rent seeking with government (Herath 2002); and  cause a decentralisation of decision-making accountability from a government entity to a tapestry of civil parties, in effect privatising the process and obscuring the link between deliberations and public good outcomes (Lane 2003).…”

Section: Governance and Deliberationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The social identity approach to understanding stakeholder conflict in environmental and natural resources management

Colvin¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Conflict between stakeholders about environmental and natural resources management (ENRM) issues is a significant challenge for achieving sustainable outcomes for people and the environment.Although conflict can be a constructive and important part of deliberative processes, ENRM routinely experiences dysfunctional conflict, where people involved focus on their perceived incompatibilities rather than finding solutions for the problem. This form of dysfunctional conflict leads to decision-making stagnation and exacerbation of issues which require timely management.The self-perpetuating nature of conflict means that relationships between people and groups become strained, and the potential for cooperation and compromise is undermined. In ENRM, conflict is addressed, often implicitly, through the practice of stakeholder engagement. Although advancements have been made on stakeholder engagement processes through both research and practice, conflict continues to manifest in ENRM issues.This thesis investigates ENRM conflict through analysing the contribution of ENRM stakeholder engagement practice to the prevalence of dysfunctional conflict. In order to understand the hidden complexities and drivers of conflict, the social identity approach has been applied as a theoretical lens. The social identity approach is a theoretical perspective from social psychology which explains how people become members of groups, and how groups interact. As such it is well suited to a study of ENRM conflict, where the heart of the conflict is how groups of people -stakeholders -interact with each other.First, the thesis outlines the theoretical basis for the interest in ENRM conflict, and makes a case for both why stakeholder engagement processes are a critical aspect of conflict which are worthy of investigation, and why the social identity approach is a useful theoretical lens. Following this, a theory building approach to integration of the literature across disciplines is used to present a way of understanding the human dimension of ENRM conflict, and the argument is made for the use of the social identity approach. As a result, a clear distinction is made between 'stakeholders' and 'the citizenry', where stakeholders are formalised groups with a defined interest, and the citizenry is everyone else. An integrative conceptual model for ENRM conflict is created, and is analysed with the application of the social identity approach.Next, the thesis examines the processes taken by ENRM practitioners to identify stakeholders, thereby filling a recognised gap in the literature. This is undertaken with the use of semi-structured interviews with experienced ENRM practitioners, analysed qualitatively. As a result, a typology of approaches to identification of stakeholders is presented, and the previously proposed distinction iii between stakeholders and the citizenry is shown to be reflective of how practitioners categorise people in the context of ENRM issues.The thesis then investigates a case study of a large-scale wind energy d...

show abstract

Effects of civil society involvement on popular legitimacy of global environmental governance

Cited by 125 publications

References 38 publications

Designing Policy Mixes for Resource Efficiency: The Role of Public Acceptability

Designing Policy Mixes for Resource Efficiency: The Role of Public Acceptability

The marginal impact of ENGOs in different types of democratic systems

The social identity approach to understanding stakeholder conflict in environmental and natural resources management

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About